One Last Danse
by BlueWastelander
Summary: The Sole Survivor, Evelyn, has saved Paladin Danse's life. Danse learns to adapt to his new life in the Wasteland as an outcast from the Brotherhood of Steel with Evelyn at his side. But with the chaotic nature of the Commonwealth can they succeed in living a normal life together?
1. Ad Victoriam

_Hey guys! This is BlueWastelander. This is my first fic in a while so please feel free to leave me some feedback! (But don't be total douche canoes.)_

 _Disclaimer: I don't own the characters from the Fallout franchise and am just borrowing them to create stories._

 **Ad Victoriam**

The crackling of lightning and thunder outside startled me awake. I sat up and dazedly stared out the window of the small abandoned house at the putrid green radiation storm that had brewed over the hours I had been asleep. I swallowed back a queasy feeling and groaned inwardly. Getting used to the Commonwealth was difficult, especially when it was so nonchalantly dropped in my lap.

I pulled the thin brown blanket up to cover my chest and peered over my shoulder at Danse.

 _How is he still sleeping?_ I was mildly irritated that my new found partner was able to sleep so soundly in the restless wasteland. Especially with the thin wool blanket that was incessantly itchy and scratchy against my soft skin.

I laid down on my side so I could look at Danse's face while he continued snoozing. His thick brows were knitted together and I knew he was having another nightmare. I gently brushed the tips of my fingers along the scar on his cheek and wondered what kind of things he had experienced growing up in the Wasteland. Synth or not, he was a child at one point. I scooted closer to him in the small twin sized bed and pressed my lips against the deep crease between his brows. He stirred and I pulled back so I could watch his warm amber eyes open.

He jumped as he woke up and quickly looked around the room. He appeared to be looking for threats and when he finally decided we were okay he laid back on the lumpy mattress and sleepily grumbled, "Why did you let me sleep so long, Evelyn?"

"We don't have anywhere to be anymore. I thought you'd like to rest a little," I said tracing my fingers over his bare chest before spreading tiny kisses over his collarbone up to his neck.

He frowned and pulled me into his side, "I keep forgetting."

I didn't say anything and instead traced his nipple for a second before he caught my fingers firmly in his hand, "You know I don't like that."

It was true; I knew it, but it momentarily distracted him from the memories of me saving his life when Elder Maxon had come for his head at the outpost and his subsequent banishment. Whenever I thought of it my heart raced and I could feel a rush of adrenaline course through my veins.

After Maxon agreed to simply banishing Danse and refusing to acknowledge his existence any longer he still made sure I knew he would require my services as a soldier from time to time. Thankfully I mostly took up mercenary work or data gathering for the Brotherhood now. It made Danse's transition into civilian life a little easier, although he had pressed me for details on the two short missions I had accepted since his banishment.

"It's okay, you know." I whispered. "It's been weeks now. Maybe we could look somewhere to settle down so it will be more normal to not always be on edge like this?"

Danse spared a quick glance at me and though a small smile played on the edges of his mouth, his eyes were still full of sadness. He'd been displaced.

"What's wrong?"

He took his arm from around my shoulders and sat up so he could put his feet on the floor. He stared at the peeling paint on the wall and started into the argument we'd been having since moments after Maxon left, "Evelyn, I know you've insisted that you love me—"

"Can you really doubt that after this afternoon?" I asked cheekily while giving his butt a playful pinch.

He sat up straight and shot an irritated look at me that quelled my relaxed attitude, "There's a difference between _love_ and _lust_ , Evelyn. I just can't comprehend how it could ever be possible for you to love an abomination like myself."

We sat in silence. The storm raged outside which only made me feel antsier. I sat up rested my forhead against his shoulder.

"Maybe you should have just let Maxon kill me," he whispered.

I clenched my jaw at his words and jumped up from the bed. The thin blanket dropped to the littered ground. I stomped around the room naked, tripping over the worn out rug by the rickety old dresser where I'd put my clothes. I could feel his eyes on me the whole time, but I refused to look at him.

"I'm tired of having the same argument over and over, Danse. I'm going to go out and see if I can scavange any food at the Super Duper Mart or maybe find a kill a radstag doe so we have something to eat tonight."

All the pent up stress at his constant self-deprecation and the nagging he put me through to abandon him was bubbling over. Tears spilled down my cheeks, so I hesitated before I turned to look into his eyes. His broad, muscular shoulders drooped pathetically and his hair stuck out in every direction from being pulled on earlier. I wanted to hit him for all the emotional turmoil he had put me through over the last few weeks, instead I walked over to him rested my hands on his shoulders. He rested his face on my stomach.

"I'll know what your decision is soon enough, but please, if you decide to leave… Tell me first," I said dejectedly. "Don't make me wait long to know."

His shoulders seemed to droop even lower as I left. I looked back at the small yellow house and felt all the anxiety and tension I'd felt over the last three weeks bunch up in the pit of my stomach. I didn't want to leave, but he had to make the decision on what he was going to do. I needed to know if I'd lose yet another person I loved.

I was getting close to Concord by the time the sun started to set. I'd followed the cracked pavement this far while treading behind a lone doe. She hadn't been frightened off by me following her, so I had continued until the air started to get chilly. I had already skinned the carcass and was slicing the meat by the time I heard footsteps crunching in the dead leaves and foliage behind me.

All my time and training with Danse had taught me to never let my guard down when I was alone for any reason. I placed the dagger I'd been using on the ground next to the doe. I slowly reached for the pistol on my hip and began to stand up. It couldn't have been a raider sneaking up on me. They usually went into a battle with guns blazing. I cleared my throat and gripped my pistol. The scavver I imagined was behind me would be dead soon enough.

"Don't shoot. It's just me," I heard Danse's baritone voice. Shivers danced up my spine. My cheeks flushed from the nerves that bombarded me as the knot in my stomach exploded like a frag grenade. I turned to see him with his head down, staring at the ground.

It was still odd to not see him wearing his Power Armor. And although we'd spent much of our free time in bed together recently, it was even weirder seeing him out of his Brotherhood uniform. Instead of the bright orange uniform he wore the dusty T-shirt and jeans I had purchased for him in Diamond City a few days before on our way north.

I dropped my hand to my side and nervously shifted my weight from one foot to the other, "So, what have you decided?"

Danse's hands were clenched into tight fists. He took a deep breath and spread his fingers out before he, "It goes against everything in me, Evelyn, but I don't want to leave you. Ever."

My heart pounded, _Is he actually going to stay?_ The corners of my mouth twitched, but I wouldn't let myself smile. I kicked the rocked at my feet and flinched at the sound of gunfire in the distance.

"You know I won't be able to give you a family," he said taking a step toward me and searching my face.

"After what happened with Shawn…" I trailed off. I looked at the unruly weeds and dead trees. The barren Commonwealth was stark before looking resolutely at him. "I don't want another family."

"I won't be able to grow old with you," tears glistened in his eyes.

I looked around. The road we were standing in was littered with broken down vehicles, animal carcasses, and withered plants, "Chances are I won't get to be old anyway."

Danse raised his eyebrows in shock before glaring at me, "Don't talk like that, Evelyn. I will protect you."

I stepped back and turned away from him. I knew Danse could protect me. That's what he did best. But I wasn't naïve enough to think he would always be there, especially when I was on missions for the Brotherhood.

I knelt back down in the road next to the body of the doe. I picked up the knife and started cutting the meat from the bone. I could feel the Paladin watching my every movement, but I didn't want to frustrate him any further, so I just continued with the busy work.

I jumped when Danse appeared at my side and gently removed the knife from my hand. He set it down and held my hand in his, "Evelyn, please."

I took my hand out of his and sat back in the dirt. I crossed my arms over my chest. His eyes lingered on my breasts before he licked his lips and looked in my eyes.

His eyes looked heavy, "Evelyn, I know I feel lust for you, but I want to see where it takes us. We've worked together for so long now—I know I respect you. I know I care for you deeply, but I want to know if that can become love."

"I know our relationship has moved quickly, but I know how I feel," I answered quietly. "I feel stronger for you than I did Nate—"

"That's one of the problems Evelyn!" He exclaimed. He smacked his lips together and looked away from me, "You haven't even been in the Commonwealth a year and you've already forgotten the feelings you had for your husband?"

"I haven't forgotten them," I growled. I sat up on my knees and jabbed my finger in the middle of his chest. "You don't get to dictate how I feel. You don't get to tell me how I get to process what's happened to _me."_

I stood up and grabbed the coolers I'd been putting the meat in off the ground, "I don't even care right now that this stupid doe is going to go to waste, Danse. I'm going to go back to that house so I can relax a while."

I started to walk away from him, both hands full. Tears were welling up in my eyes as I walked past a small hill past and an inoperable red Corvega. _Why would I think he wanted to stay?_

"Why does this conversation have to be so volatile with you?" he yelled at my back from where I left him.

I had only ignored him for a split second before I heard him jogging to catch up behind me. I dropped the coolers and turned with my fists raised, ready to punch him in the face, "Don't you dare—"

The wind was nearly knocked out of me as he rolled with me onto the ground. He raised himself onto his forearms and looked down at me from above. His eyes were piercing and he asked softly, "Do you mean it when you say you love me, Evelyn?"

I swallowed hard and nodded my head, "Yes."

His eyes seemed to peer into my soul. I could feel ten thousand butterflies swimming in my stomach as I realized he would be staying with me.

His lips were on mine in a split second. His hard mouth pressed against mind for a moment before he thrust his tongue into my mouth. I pushed back with my tongue and put my hand on his shoulder, pushing him back. He relented and moved onto his back pulling me on top of him. My hair created a dark curtain around us as we kissed.

"We're out in the open," I whispered against his lips, realizing what was going on. I looked around at the cracked roads, anticipating a caravan to suddenly materialize.

"Mhmm," he agreed, running his hands under my shirt and up my back. "Do you want to change that?"

He kissed my neck and pulled me close, but I pushed back at him, "The meat—"

As quickly as he started kissing me he stopped. He sat up and picked me up with ease. He set me next to him in the grass with a smile and quickly stood up, "Let's get back to that house then."

He grabbed my hand and pulled me up to standing. He handed me one of the rusty blue coolers laden with radstag meat and we set off for the tiny yellow house in the distance. After a few steps he laced his fingers in between mine and sidled closer to me. He released my hand and gave my butt a playful sqeeze.

"Ad victoriam."

 _That's it for this chapter! Thanks so much for reading! Don't forget that I'll be updating on (at least) a Mon-Wed-Fri schedule with other updates as I can. Have a great day!_


	2. Hardware Town

_Hey guys! This is BlueWastelander. Thanks so much for continuing to read my story "One Last Danse". I really hope you enjoyed the last chapter. As always, feedback is welcome (and as always, please just don't be a total douche canoe)._

 _Disclaimer: I don't own the characters from the Fallout franchise and am just borrowing them to create stories._

 **Hardware Town**

 ****The heat from the sun warmed my bare legs as I sat in front of the small yellow house we had been staying at for over a week. I felt a drop of sweat run down the back of my neck so I fluffed the color of my light blue top, trying to muster up a cool drift of air. It didn't work. I shifted my legs and crossed them at the ankle. I stared at the edge of the yellow summer shorts I'd found in an old house while scavenging and pulled them a bit higher so the tan lines I was bound to get sitting outside for so long wouldn't be so odd looking.

I grabbed the can of purified water I'd been drinking off the step and took a sip before leaning forward so I could watch Danse swinging an ax at a tree next to the house. He'd gotten overheated long before I did and had taken his undershirt off halfway into chopping away at the trunk.

"Need any help?" I called to him loud enough that he'd hear me over the ax strikes.

He stopped and set the head of the ax on the ground, holding the edge of the shaft loosely so he could turn and look at me.

"Like a little thing like you would be able to chop this beast down," he taunted and patted the dead tree trunk.

I knew he was trying to goad me into taking over for him so he could rest. I stood up and sauntered towards him, my drink still in my hand, "You know I have been cleaning out the entire interior of that dusty little shack we've started to call home."

His eyebrow twitched upward and a playful smile graced his lips, "Really, I couldn't tell. I guess I'll have to take care of that too."

I scoffed, mostly at the realization that he knew how to push my buttons. Didn't he know I had been an amazing housewife before the war? Even before Nate purchased Codsworth the women of Sanctuary Hills marveled at how well put together and maintained the interior of my home had been.

"Excuse me, Paladin," I stopped right in front of him and poked my fingertip into his glistening chest, "I have been doing spectacularly and fixing the inside of the house up."

"Is that so?" he asked, dropping the handle of the ax to the ground and wrapping his arms around my waist.

"That's so," I said smugly. "Soon enough people are going to wonder how you got a pre-war quality house right in the middle of the Commonwealth."

He smiled, "Oh, I believe you."

"You do?" I asked slightly confused.

He nodded and slowly lowered his hand next to mine, brushing his knuckles against mine. I inhaled sharply. The electricity of our relationship would start to fade someday, I assured myself. He pressed his palm around my hand and lifted it up. I started at him, breathless, while he raised his other hand and plucked the cool can of water out of my hand, "Thanks for the drink, Evelyn."

My mouth dropped open, "Are you kidding me?"

"What?" He shrugged his shoulder. "I was thirsty."

"You could have just asked!" I huffed and turned away from him. I stomped to the front door of the house and looked back at him to see his stupid face laughing at me as I stormed back into the house. "You don't have to be such a butt!"

I slammed the newly rehung wooden door and locked the handle. I slid to the ground and laughed to myself.

 _He definitely knows how to get to me._

I looked around the living room to the house. Danse had asked me what the purpose of a living room was the day before.

"It's where you entertain company," I replied, hitting the large mauve area rug with a baseball bat to get rid of two hundred years of dust. It did not work.

"Why would we have company? No one has time to just visit with each other these days," he had argued with me.

"I don't care if I giant mutated mole rate comes to visit me, I'm going to have a nice house—" I hit the rug again, "And people—" _swat,_ "are going—" _swat,_ "to appreciate it!" I dropped the bat and fell back onto the red couch behind me.

"I don't know where we'd be able to get it, but we'd probably benefit from getting new furniture or trying to clean this stuff," Danse said, conceding defeat at my insistence that we have a nice home.

The rug still hung from hooks on the ceiling with the baseball bat at the ground. I wished at that moment that there were textile stores that I could go purchase new décor at, but that was the part of me that still lived surreptitiously in the past. I never complained about the poor quality of nearly everything outside of weapons in the Commonwealth because I knew there was nothing I could do to change it. I sighed and rested my head on the door.

 _What I wouldn't give for a fresh coat of paint in here…_

A fresh coat of paint? I smiled and sat up straight. I knew where I could get some paint. I seemed ages ago when I'd helped paint the green wall of Diamond City, but it came to mind that I knew where plenty of preserved paint cans were available.

I ran to the bedroom and opened the top drawer on my lopsided dresser. I grabbed my Pip-Boy and turned it on. I clipped it around my wrist while it was loading and grabbed a few spare pieces of armor to wear over my legs and arms. I turned and grabbed my empty pack out of the closet in the corner and put a few cans of water in it and a box of Fancy Lad Snack Cakes. I grabbed Righteous Authority and was nearly skipping with glee as I rushed out the front door of the house and headed to the cracked roadway, humming happily as I strode past Danse.

"Where do you think you're going?" He asked, dropping the ax again so he could grab his shirt. He hastily put it on while he jogged to catch up with me.

"I'm going to Hardware Town," I said with a smile.

Danse snorted. That's a decent distance away from here," he stayed in step with me waiting for a response.

"I know," I continued to walk.

He sighed and grabbed my forearm, stopping me, "What is this about, Evelyn?"

I fought to keep the smile on my face, "It's not about anything, Paladin."

He rolled his eyes and put his hands on his hips, "Please, stop calling me that Evelyn. I'm not a Paladin anymore."

"I'm sorry, I didn't know it bothered you," I said and stood there awkwardly, looking at the ground by my white shoes.

He hung his head for a moment and then looked up at me, "Look, why do you want to go to Hardware Town? There are always raiders there."

He was right. I'd been there more than once to look for supplies and there always seemed to be a raider or two lurking. It didn't worry me since I usually crept around silently, aiming for quick kill headshots as often as I could, "I'm just getting some stuff to make the house nicer."

"The house is as nice as it's going to get," he said, exasperated.

I didn't want to believe that. I couldn't. There was always a way to make circumstances better. I wasn't going to sit back and just let life happen to me. I wanted to find beauty and comfort in the wastes of the old world. If blue paint was going to help me do that, then I was going to get some blue paint.

"I'm going to get the paint, _sir_."

"Evelyn, go home," he asserted.

I squared my shoulders, "Is that an order?"

"Of course not," he grumbled. "Just… be safe."

"I always am," I comforted him.

He looked up at the sky with an irritated expression, stretching his hands out to the side in a sign of defeat, before turning on his heel to stalk away back to the house. I set a mark on my map for the tiny house so I could find it again and headed south towards the store.

It was late afternoon when I reached Hardware Town. I opened the front door to the ancient establishment and skirted around the felled displays and shelves and stayed close to the wall. When I got to the register I crouched down and listened.

"I swear, Mikey, I heard the front door open up," a woman said.

"Quit being so paranoid," Mikey grunted. "If you're so concerned just go check to see if anyone is out there."

They were silent for a minute and then the door to the registers creaked open. A shaky voice called out into the darkness, "Is anyone there?" I stayed silent until I watched her creep through the storefront.

I looked over the edge of the counter and quickly slid over it and dropped to the back side of the counter. I looked through the door to the storage area and rushed to shut the door and lock it so the female raider couldn't access the back again.

I snuck to the back and poked my head into the storage room. I watched Mikey's feet walk between the aisles of product. I anxiously watched as he moved towards the back before a loud pounding came from behind me.

"Damn it, Mikey! Open the door. This isn't funny!" She continued pounding on the door.

Mikey cursed under his breath and then angrily hollered, "Fuck, Veronica! You're going to wake the dead with that racket!"

I ran to a row of laundry machines and hid between them as Mikey rushed out of the back to help Veronica regain entrance to their backroom hideout. I let out a relieved breath as I quietly shut the door behind him and walked to the shelves where I knew paint was stored.

I joyfully grabbed the half dozen blue paint cans sitting on the shelf and smiled to myself, _This will definitely help make the house look amazing._

I headed towards the exit in the back of the storeroom where the old loading was when I heard a deep, enraged voice holler from the upstairs offices, "Where's my fuckin' psycho, Mikey?"

The door to the storeroom swung open with a thud that made me jump. I watched Mikey run upstairs with a handful of psycho. Veronica walked in behind him. Her hair was mussed up and she was readjusting her armor over her chest.

 _Looks like Mikey made it up to her for locking the door._

I crouched down and continued towards the exit. A hole in the floor to the basement revealed at least seven more raiders sitting around the room talking to each other while using jet and psycho.

I moved breathlessly around the hole in the floor, trying not to draw attention to me. My palms got sweaty and one of the paint cans I carried started slipping off my finger. I curled my digit around it as tightly as I could. I took a step and tripped over a box of Abraxo. The can slipped of my finger and sent an echoing thud sounding through the storeroom.

"What the fuck was that?" One of the men in the basement asked.

"Let's find out," chuckled a woman.

I set the paint cans down and drew Righteous Authority. I hit one of the raiders square in the chest and he crumbled into a pile of energy dust. A bullet grazed my thigh and I ducked between the aisles of pre-war merchandise.

"Think you can fucking get away with stealing from us?" The female raider snarled.

I watched her move closer towards me. I put as much space between us as quickly as I could, but it felt like only seconds passed before her ammunition was whizzing towards me again. I took shelter behind one of the old washing machines and shot at her. I growled in frustration when I missed her for the third time in a row.

 _I'm going to die over six cans of paint,_ I realized and sighed. I was going to have to move closer to her so my accuracy could improve. I drew in a shaky break and reloaded a fusion cell before rounding the corner of the machine. I aimed at the raider and shot her shoulder. The makeshift armor she wore protected her enough to keep her arm, but the skin around the shoulder piece turned angry red and started to blister.

"You're gonna pay for that, bitch," she growled at me. She dropped her pistol and grabbed the baseball bat that was secured to her back. "I'm gonna beat you to death."

I swallowed hard and aimed through the scope I had added to Righteous Authority. I aimed for her head and pulled the trigger. Within milliseconds her face had turned black from the energy beam and she fell to the ground.

"Oh ho ho," a quiet gravelly voice said slowly behind me. "You killed my girl, scavver."

I turned around to see a man easily twice my size walking towards me with a shotgun. His eyes looked wild and sent a shiver down my spine, "L-look. All I wanted was some paint."

"So, you tried to steal from me. Then, you killed Angela," He raised his eyebrows and cocked his head. "I'm going to torture the shit out of you."

"Please, I-I just want to go home," I said slowly backing away from him. I moved to bring my gun up, but a hand stopped me. I looked over my shoulder to see Mikey grinning evilly from ear to ear.

"You ain't going home, scavver," the boss of the operation sneered. "Ain't no one going to miss your sorry ass either."

Mikey took Righteous Authority and my pack that was full of water and food, "She got provisions here to last a few days. We could be done with her before anyone even realized she was missing, Gav."

Gav nodded his head and turned around, "take her to the basement, Mikey. I'm going to have fun with this one."

 _There's the chapter! I hope y'all enjoyed it. And I'm sorry it's mid-afternoon Monday before I could update this fic. It takes me a while sometimes because I have five wee children._

 _Don't forget to follow this story so you can get the updates every Mon-Wed-Fri. I will also be starting a new Fallout fic soon that will combine Fallout New Vegas, Fallout 3, and Fallout 4 in the near future! I'll update here in my fun little Author's Notes section when that fic will be coming out._

 _Later guys!_


	3. Righteous Authority

_Hello chiiiiiiildren, this is Blue Watselander and I'd like to thank you for continuing to read my fanfiction "One Last Danse". I've gotten some very kind feedback on the story as well as a lot of great constructive criticism (you know, the great kind where people aren't little turds). Anyway, I do want to address the fact that spelling errors and such have been pointed out. I do a simple spell check after writing a chapter but do not really get super into editing. After I finish the entire fic I will really work to address the technical issues and try to polish it up. Thanks again, and as always, feedback is welcome. Just don't be a douche canoe._

 **Righteous Authority**

White and red stars exploded through my vision as Gav's fist connected with my face for what felt like the hundredth time, "I can't believe you actually killed my girl, you little runt."

I struggled to stay on my knees while Gav was beating me. I had already learned that if I fell over when he hit me he would drag me back up to my knees by my hair. I lifted my chin after the most recent onslaught and tilted my head to the side so I could look at him through my eye that wasn't swollen shut and asked, "Well, if she hadn't have been so weak we wouldn't be in this situation would we?"

Gav's face turned red. He kicked me in the ribs, knocking the air out of me. I bent forward at the waist but refused to fall to the ground again. I watched as he turned to grab the dagger that was on the dilapidated old desktop that was littered with psycho and jet. He tossed it playfully from hand to hand and a twisted smile crossed his face, "I'm not quite done playing games with you, scavver, but I'm going to make sure we're ready when I decide to finish this. Mikey!"

Mikey seemed to materialize in the room behind him, but the illusion could have been easily caused by my vision blacking out again. It was disorienting when I couldn't remember half of the torture they were putting me through. There were times during the beating that I would regain my consciousness and have new aches and pains and gashes.

"What can I do for ya, boss?" The squirrely man groveled.

"Go get a pike. I'm going to show everyone in the Commonwealth what happens to people who steal shit from me and kill my people."

Mikey shut the crooked door behind him as he left. Gav pulled an old wooden office chair from behind the desk in the corner of the room so he could sit in front of me where I was kneeling. He studied my face and smirked evilly.

"You know, if you weren't so mouthy and hadn't have killed my girl, I would have been willing to take you on into the gang," He scratched at the stubble on his jaw. "I maybe woulda even fucked ya a couple of times."

"Like I'd let you," I spat at him. The thought that I should even remotely flattered by his crass assumption made me angry.

"Well, see," he said thoughtfully, inching towards the edge of his seat, "I woulda been able to make you do it anyway if your current predicament proves anything about you bein' able to prevent anything from happening to you. You wasn't even able to stop me from getting what I wanted here."

I rolled my eyes and tried to shift my weight off my aching knees. The raider didn't know anything about my time in the Commonwealth since I left the vault. If he did, he wouldn't be so confident, but I wanted to give Gav the impression that I had lost all hope. It was easy when I still hadn't constructed a plan on how to get out of the store yet.

Gav leaned forward in his chair, making it creak uncomfortably, and caught my chin in his hand, forcing me to look at up him, "I could still do what I want with you."

Knots formed in my stomach and I felt close to hurling at the idea of a forced coupling with the degenerate raider, "Over my dead body."

"Think that'll stop me, cupcake?" he barked out a laugh and hooked his hand around the back of my neck, pulling me into a hard kiss. His tongue covered my mouth with spit as he tried to force his way into my mouth and the urge to vomit resurfaced. I solved my nausea by biting down hard on his tongue when he finally shoved past my bruised lips into my mouth.

"You bitch!" He screamed, pressing his fingers to his tongue so he could inspect the damage.

I took the opportunity he'd presented for me to gain the upper hand and spit the blood from my mouth into his face. He jumped to his feet and ran out of the room to get my blood out of his eyes. I took that moment alone to assess the situation.

 _C'mon Evie, you've been in worse situations than this,_ I gave myself a pep talk but the fake positivity wasn't really helping. I had no clue where to go from here; my cloudy thoughts and blurred vision was anything but helpful.

I looked at the chair Gav had been sitting in and noticed the glint of the steel dagger he'd dropped on the floor before he'd left. I shuffled on my knees closer to it and turned to the side, leaning over so I could try to grab it. I almost knocked myself off balance when a wave of dizziness swept over me, but I grabbed the dagger and moved back to where I had been kneeling.

 _You've got this. Just cut through the ropes and you can fight your way out of this,_ I said, much more sure of my newly formed plan.

I started sawing at the ropes around my wrists when I heard the stomping of the angry raider returning to the room, "Thought you could pull one over on me didn't you, scavver?"

He raised his hand and delivered a hard-backhand slap to the side of my face. I crumpled to the floor and laid with my eyes closed. Believing he'd rendered me unconscious, Gav turned his back to me and moved the jet and psycho around the desktop where the dagger had been until he found what he wanted. I doubled my efforts to slice through the ropes while he was distracted by his cache of drugs. Relief flooded through me when the pressure on my wrists released and I pulled my hands apart. I watched as Gav inhaled some jet. I raised myself up to my feet and stumbled a little.

"What the fuck?" Gav said when he saw me standing up, freed.

I held the dagger up in my shaking hand and circled around him towards the desk. He momentarily stood silent with a shocked look on his face. I slowly grabbed a syringe of psycho off the desk, but before I could inject it into my arm Gav's hand shot out and he caught me with a solid punch in the chest. I stumbled back and fell onto the floor.

"You're not going anywhere," he snarled at me.

I winced while sitting up and quickly injected the psycho into my thigh, "We'll see about that."

Almost immediately I felt adrenaline pumping through my veins. I felt a wave of uncontrollable anger wash down from my head until my whole body was enveloped in rage. I stood up, dodging another punch from Gav. I quickly hobbled around the desk and grabbed Righteous Authority from the corner where my things had been stashed by Mikey, slipping the dagger into my waistband.

I pointed my rifle at Gav's chest. He looked almost scared when he realized an energy weapon was pointed at his unarmored chest. The fear fled from his face when he observed my bruised and broken body, "You ain't gonna do nothing."

He dropped his hand to his side where a sawed-off shotgun dangled, but before he could grab it I shot his shoulder once with a laser.

"Are you kidding me?" I asked incredulously. "You're trying to fucking kill me after you've tortured me and you think I'm not going to do anything to you?"

He panicked and turned to the door. I shot him in the leg and watched him drop to the floor in pain before he could leave. Mikey opened the door at that point. He dropped the pike he was holding when I pointed the rifle at him and he held his hands up.

"Whoa, whoa there sister. I don't want any trouble," He said trying to weasel his way out of being shot.

Unfortunately for him I wasn't in a forgiving mood. I aimed at his head and pulled the trigger. A red beam exited my rifle and Mikey's head turned into a bloody, burned stump.

I turned my attention back to Gav who was trying to worm his way out of the room. He looked pathetic alternating between writhing in pain and squirming to get away from me. I stepped forward with more confidence than I felt and planted my feet on either side of his body. I pulled his head up by his hair like he'd done to me during his sadistic game and whispered in his ear, "You're done terrorizing the Commonwealth."

I pulled the dagger from my waistband and sliced it quickly across his throat. A gurgling sputtering sound came out of his mouth and neck as he bled out through the arteries I had cut through. I stood in the door way and looked over my shoulder as the last bit of life drained from his eyes, "Ad victoriam, asshole."

I limped down to the storage room and looked through a plethora of containers of food and medical supplies the raiders had before I found a stimpak. My head immediately felt clearer after using it. I hobbled out into the store front and picked up an overturned shopping cart and wheeled it back to where the hole in the floor was. I picked the cans of blue paint up one by one while clutching my ribs. I pushed the cart out the loading dock door and headed back to the house where Danse waited for me.

It was the middle of the night when I started getting close to the house. My endurance was shot from the ordeal at Hardware Town and I couldn't find any stimpaks on the way back. I sat down on the rusty bumper of an old shipping truck and rested my head on the cool metal. After a moment I looked at my Pip-Boy. The marker was at least half a mile away still.

"I should have just stayed home today," I murmured.

"Yes, you should have," Danse's rich, deep voice agreed.

I looked around and found him leaning against the end of the truck. He sauntered over towards me, but his face melted into an expression of worry when he saw my face covered with bruises and my blue shirt and yellow shorts covered with blood, "What happened to you?"

I shrugged and grimaced at the pain of it, "I went and got some paint." I lightly tapped the shopping cart full of paint cans proudly with my foot.

Danse scowled at me, "Looks like you ran into some trouble while you were getting that paint."

I hopped off the bumper and stumbled a little before Danse caught me. His strong arm held me around my waist as I steadied myself. "Just as few raiders. Nothing I can't handle."

Danse gave me a once over and opened his mouth to argue with me. I shot him a pitiful glare, so instead, he asked, "What are we going to do with this shopping cart of garbage?"

"It's not garbage!" I exclaimed indignantly. "It's home improvement supplies!"

Danse smirked and shook his head. He gently lifted me off the ground and placed me in the cart with the paint cans, "Take it easy, Evelyn. I'll take you home."

 _So there you have it kids. Another chapter in this fun little fanfiction. I hope you enjoyed it. In the last chapter I talked about another Fallout fic that combines New Vegas, 3, and 4. I'm not going to begin developing that story until after November because I enjoy participating in NaNoWriMo and I can't work on three stories at once. Sorry! Next update will be Friday. If you liked this chapter please click the little favorite button and don't forget to follow for more updates!_


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